Top Chefs Explore New Ways to Menu Citrus
Sunkist Growers, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) at Greystone in St. Helena, California hosted the fifth annual Sunkist Citrus Célébré, an event that brings together culinary innovators from North America to explore creative cooking with citrus. The event, held February 1 – 3, 2006, gave chefs an opportunity to explore world citrus trends and get an in-depth look at citrus varieties.
Participants learned about Sunkist citrus from the tree to the table with guidance and inspiration from Chef Allen Susser, author of The Great Citrus Book and owner of Chef Allen's restaurant in Aventura, Florida, and CIA chef-instructor, Lars Kronmark.
"Citrus Célébré is about using citrus as the common thread for creating a cultural bonding of flavors and ideas. Citrus is authentic and can draw inspiration by how it's used culturally," said Chef Allen Susser, who is acknowledged as one of the inventors of New World Cuisine.
Participating Guests
Chef who attended the event represented the following companies:
The Mark Hotel
Mimi's Café
Barcelona Restaurants
Metro Restaurants
Sheraton Hotels & Suites
Dean & Deluca
Trade Winds Resort
Chez Nora
Pei Wei Asian Diner
Classic Residence by Hyatt
Deep Fork Grill
The Calgary Winter Club
Mohegan Sun Casino
Beau Revage Casino
Legal Seafoods
Bravo Development Italiano
Citrus Trends in World Cuisine
During the Citrus Célébré event the chefs explored flavor profiles of commonly known Sunkist citrus varieties like lemons and navel oranges, to lesser known seasonal specialties like Cara Cara navels, pummelos, oroblancos, and Moro oranges and learned how the bold flavors of citrus accent cuisines around the world.
According to curriculum presented by Chef Allen, "Each culture tends to combine a small number of flavoring ingredients so frequently and so consistently that they become definitive to that particular cuisine." Chef Allen then walked attendees through a tour of the history of citrus throughout the world and the role of citrus in the major world cuisines. Examples covered historical and cultural flavorings of Asian, Mediterranean, European, Latin American, Fusion cuisines, and American Regional Cooking, including the healthful benefits of citrus on American menus.
Team Building Exercise Yielded Innovative Citrus Creations
For a hands-on, camaraderie-building experience, the chefs were divided into teams for the creation of citrus dishes featuring Asian, Mediterranean, American, Latin and healthy cuisines. For the second part of the seminar chefs were asked to participate in a "Market Basket" exercise where they were assigned menu categories and proteins, then given access to CIA's stock of fresh ingredients to incorporate citrus to create their own dishes.
|
After the Event
Since attending Citrus Célébré, Stephen Kalil, executive chef with Chili's Grill & Bar owned by Brinker International, senses "a strong benefit to having more citrus-based items to be included in our research," he said. To bring a new item to the menu in the 1,100 restaurants, the company starts with written descriptions of proposed dishes, then researches it. "If we want a salad with Cara Cara oranges, for example, I write a description first. Then we move forward if we feel the purchase intent is there and there's interest on the front end.
"I know I can include more (citrus) now that I know I have support in the industry as far as sourcing citrus. In the past, the uncertainty of being able to source product has been a problem. Sunkist can help me do the homework," he said.
When he returned from Citrus Célébré, Jeffrey Steelman, chef de cuisine for Tuscany restaurant at Mohegan Sun Hotel and Casino in Uncasville, Conn., copied the pages from his notebook that explained the flavor nuances of each citrus variety and gave a copy to each of the 32 cooks under him. Then he conducted a citrus variety sampling with them. "Every single cook didn't even realize those flavors were in those pieces of citrus until it was brought to their attention," he said.
Since he's returned, he's changed his Stilton blue cheese gelato into a Stilton and lime gelato. He also opened up his mind to the less-familiar pummelo. "I'm playing with pummelo in a foie gras gelato and I'm doing a caramelized pummelo flan," with enthusiasm from the cooks, he said.
"When you think of citrus in the culinary world, you mainly think of it in vinaigrettes and marinades," said Yale Woodson, Culinary Director for Legal Sea Foods, Boston. "But (at Citrus Célébré) we were doing things with different proteins, using segments in dishes both hot and cold. I found that interesting. … Now I have a stronger sense of the different versatile uses of citrus apart from the routine and traditional uses."
He and three colleagues planned to prepare four seafood-based salads incorporating citrus to hand out as samples at the fourth annual Boca Bacchanal Winefest March 10-11 in Boca Raton, Fla.
|
